adminTuskers will be hoping to complete a double in the Pro50 One Day competition against Southern Rocks who they beat by nine runs in the first leg and went on to lose by four wickets in the Twenty20.
Southern Rocks who are coached by former Tuskers gaffer Dave Houghton will not be pushovers and the Bulawayo club will have to be at their best against a team that has also been struggling in all formats of the game.
Tuskers are out of the Twenty20 competition meaning that their dream of sweeping all the accolades on offer has gone down the drain leaving them to fight for the Castle Logan Cup and the Pro50 One-Day titles.
The Heath Streak coached Tuskers have not had a good start in the shorter versions of the game, that is the Pro50 One-Day and the Twenty20.
Tuskers have had a sloppy start to the season, losing by seven wickets against Manicaland Mountaineers in their first One-Day game of the season and also lost by five runs in the Twenty20 to the same side.
The Bulawayo club also lost both their games away to Mashonaland Eagles in Harare and managed to bounce back getting a bonus point for their 132-runs win against MidWest Rhinos. In that resounding One-Day victory, skipper Graig Ervine scored an unbeaten 106 runs which powered Tuskers to 294 runs.
Opening batsman Brian Chari scored 63 runs in that win and that impressive batting from the team makes Streak confident that his charges could do better in the second half of the season.
The former Zimbabwe national team captain said the players have been working on their fitness and is not much worried about the long break.
“We resume training on 2 January and the players have been doing their own fitness trainings. Obviously we want to continue on our good run. We have to work hard in all the areas that are batting, fielding and bowling if we are to win silverware.
“The issue of us underperforming in shorter versions of the game might be psychological and we have to be mentally tougher in our approach as we have the ability to win. We just have to be composed,” said Streak.
According to Streak, Sean Williams was the only player who was nursing a slight knock before the break which means that Tuskers will have a full strength squad when training resumes on Wednesday.
Some of the players expected to lead Tuskers’ quest to bag the Castle Logan Cup and the Pro50 One-Day include Terrence Duffin, Keegan Meth, Ervine, Chari and all-rounder John Nyumbu.
They also have national team pace bowler Christopher Mpofu and Englishman Moeen Ali to bank on.
There is fierce competition for places in the team especially in bowling where there is Glen Querl, Nyumbu, seamer Njabulo Ncube, Mpofu, and Meth.
Online Reporter